Who directs Wolf?

In the wake of Mark Romanek’s departure from THE WOLF MAN, Universal is scrambling trying to find a director that will keep the entire project in pace. You may have heard the rumor that Brett Ratner was in the running to replace Romanek, instantly causing fanboys worldwide to bash their faces on their keyboards. Well today The Hollywood Reporter reveals a few other names that are in contention. They report that Frank Darabont, James Mangold (3:10 TO YUMA), Bill Condon (DREAMGIRLS) and Joe Johnston (HIDALGO) all met or will meet with Universal execs to talk the film. Interesting that most of their candidates are writer/directors when the script is already locked. I’d be shocked if Darabont or Condon were interested in directing a film they had little to no creative input on developing. Ratner seems to be the front-runner due to his similar gig replacing Bryan Singer as the director of X3 but a final decision isn’t expected to be made until last week. It’s a shame because I don’t think anyone will be able to make a Mark Romanek film like Romanek would have. He still hasn’t spoken out about his departure but I’d love to hear exactly what went wrong that he threw this film away…